ABOUT US

The AWARE ND is a full-contact form of personal safety training has its origins with a group of martial artists who decided in the early 1970s to develop a new form of self defense for women – one that was relevant to the needs and capabilities of women, acknowledged women’s issues, and made use of training methods that introduced more realism and better results. These individuals designed the foundation by researching police records and by speaking to survivors and perpetrators, as well as experts in education, psychology, sociology, martial arts, and physiology.

Our highly developed program is designed to provide our students with realistic and useful skills for themselves. The program is taught by specially trained teams of female and male instructors. The course addresses situations ranging from the day-to-day levels of boundary violation to the worst-case scenario of actual assault.

All of our courses involve full-contact, full-force interactive fights with a thoroughly padded mock assailant who is trained to re-create common assault scenarios ranging from subtle harassment to actual physical violence. Students learn not only to defend themselves, but to overcome the common “freeze response,” and to manage fear and anxiety during intimidating situations.

These classes give you the opportunity to clearly identify how you naturally respond in any given situation. We provide you with the emotional, verbal and physical tools that allow you to examine your interactions with other people and identify what works for you. You redefine what it means to be aware of your surroundings, the choices you make about personal safety, how you speak to people, and how you allow people to speak to you. We encourage you to be comfortable setting boundaries with people you interact with on a daily basis, people you come into contact with randomly, and people you interact with against your will. Our goal is for you to be able to set healthy boundaries and ask for what you want.